DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Withdrawn Rejections
Any rejections and or objections, made in the previous Office Action, and not repeated below, are hereby withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendments and/or arguments in the response dated March 2, 2025. However, new rejections may have been made using the same prior art if still applicable to the newly presented amendments and/or arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1 – 5, 8, 9, 12, and 16 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto (WO 2018/181426 A1) in view of Okuno et al. (WO 2020/196825 A1).
A machine-generated translation of WO 2020/196825 A1 accompanied the office action dated December 1, 2025. In reciting this rejection, the examiner will cite this translation.
A machine-generated translation of Yamamoto accompanied the Information Disclosure Statement dated December 17, 2024. In reciting this rejection, the examiner will cite this translation.
Yamamoto discloses a resin sheet having a first film, a resin composition layer, and a second film, wherein the resin composition layer is present between the first film and the second film (Claim 1), the first film has a single-layer plastic film as a substrate (Claim 14; Page 7, lines 22 – 33), a barrier layer formed on the plastic film surface(Page 7, lines 34 to Page 8, line 4), and a release layer formed on the barrier layer surface not in contact with the plastic film or on the plastic film surface not having a barrier layer (Page 9, line 13 to Page 10, line 9), the first film is a transparent film (Page 7, lines 7 – 10), the water vapor transmission rate of the first film is 0.01 (g/m2/24hr) or more and 1 (g/m2/24hr) or less (Page 6, line 8 to Page 7, line 4), the release layer of the first film is in contact with the resin composition layer (Page 9, line 13 to Page 10, line 9), the second film does not have a release layer (Page 9, lines 13 – 16, wherein the release layer does not have to be on the second film), and the water vapor transmission rate of the second film is less than 0.01 (g/m2/24hr) (Page 6, line 8 to Page 7, line 4), and the resin composition layer comprises a hygroscopic filler (Page 15, line 18 to Page 16, line 26, wherein half-calcined hydrotalcite is a hygroscopic filler for water absorption) as in claims 1 and 2. Yamamoto further discloses a resin sheet having a first film, a resin composition layer, and a third film, wherein the resin composition layer is present between the first film and the third film (Claim 1), the first film has a single-layer plastic film as a substrate (Claim 14; Page 7, lines 22 – 33), a barrier layer formed on the plastic film surface (Page 7, lines 34 to Page 8, line 4), and a release layer formed on the barrier layer surface not in contact with the plastic film or on the plastic film surface not having a barrier layer (Page 9, line 13 to Page 10, line 9), the first film is a transparent film (Page 7, lines 7 – 10), the water vapor transmission rate of the first film is 0.01 (g/m2/24hr) or more and 1 (g/m2/24hr) or less (Page 6, line 8 to Page 7, line 4), the third film has a release layer (Page 9, line 13 to Page 10, line 9), the water vapor transmission rate of the third film is 0.01 (g/m2/24hr) or more and 1 (g/m2/24hr) or less (Page 6, line 8 to Page 7, line 4) and the release layer of the first film and the release layer of the third film are in contact with the resin composition layer (Page 9, line 13 to Page 10, line 9), the resin composition layer comprises a hygroscopic filler (Page 15, line 18 to Page 16, line 26, wherein half-calcined hydrotalcite is a hygroscopic filler for water absorption) as in claim 12. With respect to claims 3 and 16, a thickness of the first film is 20 μm to 100 μm (Page 7, lines 22 – 33). Regarding claims 4 and 17, the first film has a total light transmittance of 80% or more (Page 7, lines 7 – 10). For claims 5 and 18, the first film is a support for forming a resin composition layer (Claim 1; Page 9, lines 18 – 20). As in claims 8 and 19, the resin composition layer comprises a polyolefin-based resin and/or an epoxy resin (Page 10, line 14 to Page 15, line 17). With respect to claims 9 and 20, the resin composition layer comprises a polyolefin-based resin (Page 10, line 14 to Page 15, line 17). However, Yamamoto fails to disclose the resin composition layer comprises calcium oxide as a hygroscopic filler.
Okuno et al teach a film contains a hygroscopic filler chosen from half-calcined hydrotalcite or calcium oxide (Page 2, lines 29 – 38) for the purpose having a film with moisture shielding properties (Page 3, lines 1 – 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have calcium oxide as a hygroscopic filler in Yamamoto in order to have a film with moisture shielding properties as taught by Okuno et al.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 2, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Please the rejection in view of Okuno et al, which teaches that half-calcined hydrotalcite or calcium oxide are equivalent hygroscopic fillers.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/Patricia L. Nordmeyer/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1788
/pln/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788 March 20, 2026